Medical-Pharmaceutical Event Planning: The Prescription for Success

Organising a pharmaceutical event can feel like a huge undertaking – especially when you’re dealing with swathes of professional delegates and sector-critical topics. 

From new product launches to industry training and more, the medical and pharmaceutical industry has little to no margin for error or loss of reputation. So, how do you make sure your event is scalpel-sharp from beginning to end? 

There are no placebos - It all comes down to how you plan. 

When planning a successful pharmaceutical event, meeting the expectations of your delegates is crucial.
When you’re asking busy medical and pharmaceutical professionals to attend an event, you need to make the most of their time. This doesn’t mean your guests won’t want to enjoy themselves – but you do need to make sure that they get what they came for. 

Before you get into the nitty gritty of planning your event, make sure you understand what your guests hope to achieve (and double-check there’s a demand for it).

Pharmaceutical professionals attend events for many reasons, including:

• Professional development. Events can provide an opportunity to gain new knowledge, skills, and perspectives that deliver career enhancements. This could be learning about the latest developments in the medical field, best practices from esteemed industry experts, or discovering emerging trends. 
• Networking. Events provide the chance for pharmaceutical professionals to connect with peers, share knowledge, and establish new relationships. This can lead to strengthened professional networks, new partnerships, and even the potential to explore new career opportunities.
• Collaboration. Pharmaceutical events can provide a rich opportunity to collaborate with other professionals - such as researchers, clinicians, and industry leaders - on new projects or initiatives. Successful collaboration can help to drive innovation and accelerate research, as well as bring new treatments to patients.
• Marketing and sales. Pharmaceutical companies often leverage events to promote their products and services. This could be an internal endeavour which seeks to train and unite in-house teams, or even an external event to showcase new innovations – including the chance to engage with potential customers, or create new business opportunities.
• Industry updates. Staying up to date with industry news, regulations, and policies is a key function of pharmaceutical events. They provide a valuable forum for discussing the latest trends and challenges facing the industry, as well as exploring potential solutions.

Preparing a successful event for the pharmaceutical industry requires well-laid groundwork and attention to detail.  So, consider the above reasons for why a pharmaceutical professional would attend your event. How will you meet their requirements? 

This is where your mission-critical planning comes in! By considering the content of your event around the basis of its objectives, you’ll find the elixir for success.

Here are some key steps to get the planning started:

• Define the target audience and their intentions. As we’ve discussed above, this really is the heart of a healthy event plan. These details will determine the content, format, and logistics of the event.
• Decide if the event be in person, hybrid, or fully remote. This could impact your needs massively – so consider it carefully. For instance, if you think that remote participation could increase event attendance, you could get away with a smaller venue – but you’ll need to make sure you have the right technology in place to record it!
  
• Choose the right venue. Select a venue that is appropriate for the size and nature of your event. You should consider factors such as location, accessibility and available facilities, so your delegates can maximise everything your event has to offer – including guests with disabilities. 
  
• Develop an agenda.  By using a variety of formats - such as presentations, panel discussions, and interactive sessions - your attendees will remain engaged and interested. However, you need to remember to keep your event objectives at its core. If you hold a networking event, for example, your guests may not to sit through numerous guest speakers (even if they address interesting topics). An agenda will have other benefits, too, such as providing a framework for other people who are helping to organise the event (and letting your delegates know what to expect!).
  
• Invite speakers and sponsors. Inviting experts to speak at your event can potentially increase its integrity, while seeking sponsorships could help to support the event financially. Of course, you need to ensure that any sponsor or speaker will complement the event’s objectives and your target audience (even the most famous faces and brands can have a negative impact if they don’t align with your demographic). Choosing a great keynote speaker, however, could prove pivotal to attracting attendees - and with the right technology in place, they could even attend remotely. There’s no need to fly across the globe to give a speech when internet access and a projector could suffice!  
  
• Promote the event. Use a variety of channels - such as social media, email marketing, and advertising - to promote the event to your target audience. Wherever your audience ‘hang out’ is where you should focus the majority of your efforts; be it a certain industry magazine, LinkedIn group, or anything in-between.
  
• Plan logistics. Of course, this will need to be in accordance with whether your event is in person, hybrid or remote. Registration and audio-visual support will be essential for all types of events; while accommodation, transportation and catering will be key to meeting the needs of in-person attendees.
  
• Measure success. Whether your event had pulses racing or seemed more like it was DOA, take the temperature by setting up metrics to evaluate its success - such as attendance, engagement, and feedback from attendees. You should use these metrics to inform future event planning and build on your victories – as well as learn from any mistakes.

By following these steps, you can plan a successful event for the pharmaceutical industry that meets the needs of attendees and achieves its objectives. You don’t need to go it alone, however… An events management company like UKSV can help.

UKSV are medical and pharmaceutical event experts.

• Work closely and creatively with you to meet your goals.
• Understand the compliance required by your industry.
• Develop bespoke and standard packages that make planning your event easier.

• Provided over 10,000 hours (1,266 days) of pre-production, onsite and production support to the pharmaceutical events industry.
• Reached over 63,000 separate healthcare professionals through its live pharmaceutical activities.
• Delivered 61 pharmaceutical projects, including 30 virtual/hybrid events and videos.
• Won the Best Event Award at the UK Agency Awards 2022 and the Most Dedicated Events Agency 2022 in the Southern Enterprise Awards, as a result of its pharmaceutical work.